: The Mother, Bertolt Brecht’s 1932 play based on Maxim Gorky’s novel of the same name, does not carry the cultural or historical baggage of his later, better-known Mother Courage and Her Children. Prefiguring that landmark text’s fully-developed narrative as a means of social disruption, it fits a similar view of fraught maternal care as emblematic of societal strife into the mold of his experimental lehrstücke (“learning plays”). In it, the widow Pelagea Vlasov finds herself taking on an increasingly larger role in her son’s Marxist activism through a series of eleven scenes and a handful of free-versed songs.
Friday, November 05, 2021
“The Mother” and The Wooster Group’s Identity Crisis
Observer
: The Mother, Bertolt Brecht’s 1932 play based on Maxim Gorky’s novel of the same name, does not carry the cultural or historical baggage of his later, better-known Mother Courage and Her Children. Prefiguring that landmark text’s fully-developed narrative as a means of social disruption, it fits a similar view of fraught maternal care as emblematic of societal strife into the mold of his experimental lehrstücke (“learning plays”). In it, the widow Pelagea Vlasov finds herself taking on an increasingly larger role in her son’s Marxist activism through a series of eleven scenes and a handful of free-versed songs.
: The Mother, Bertolt Brecht’s 1932 play based on Maxim Gorky’s novel of the same name, does not carry the cultural or historical baggage of his later, better-known Mother Courage and Her Children. Prefiguring that landmark text’s fully-developed narrative as a means of social disruption, it fits a similar view of fraught maternal care as emblematic of societal strife into the mold of his experimental lehrstücke (“learning plays”). In it, the widow Pelagea Vlasov finds herself taking on an increasingly larger role in her son’s Marxist activism through a series of eleven scenes and a handful of free-versed songs.
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3 comments:
This was a very complex review that really looked at many aspects of the production while holding it within the context of the group it was performed by. Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with The Mother, but I am very familiar with the Wooster Group and their work. During Pre-college at CMU, I did research and wrote an essay on the group and their work. I even watched a recording of their production of Hamlet. The Wooster Group is known for its innovation in media and overall strange and unique approach to theatre. The critiques of the screen and the media aspect seemed very valid, especially as they note half the audience couldn’t even see it. It seemed like the reviewer was just overall unsure about the production and whether it delivered what it needs. In addition, the context of this being the first show since the COVID shutdown definitely seemed to influence their opinion. One of the most interesting sentences I thought was “Throughout their nearly-50 year history, they have redefined downtown theatrical avant-gardism over and over—but a New York ‘downtown’ has been long dead…”.
I was not familiar with the mother, however I was familiar with Bertolt Brecht Mother Courage and Her Children from Pre-college. This article seems to have a love hate relationship with the Mother, praising its composition but then critiquing the lack of revolutionism as previously seen by the Wooster Group. I think it is interesting that they are held to such a standard following covid based on their previous productions. I think one expects, and this is a frequent issue, that following covid artists must have created genius work or revolutionized their art form. I think this is simply not the case. I wonder how the Wooster group will be affected by the lack of admiration of their production of the mother. I also find it interesting that they have never worked with Brecht considering their typical avant-garde productions. I wonder why specifically now they chose to tackle Brecht, and although I understand why the reviewer is critiquing the group I think they seem to be looking for more of the same, which might not be preferred.
I have never seen a performance by the Wooster group by I have done a lot of research on their founding and productions over the years. I am glad that they were finally able to open The Mother, they have been working on that since before March 2020 and was supposed to open shortly after. I think that this title is a bit deceiving, just because they are doing Brecht for the first time doesn’t mean they have completely changed. From the description of the show, it seems like right on point for the type of work that they do. They like to deconstruct the work and then challenge the playwright. It seems that they kept pretty close to the original script, which isn’t always the case, so that seems like something interesting to watch. They also include media in sometimes unconnected ways. I’d say showing clips from old movies to help tell the story they want is also very on point for the Wooster Group. I hope to be able to see one of their productions one day.
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